[IMC-Editorial] U.S. Publisher Announces Important Copyright Innovation

[Margaret Chesser]

FYI to Legal/Legislation Editor:

If Independent Media Center will be doing a story on copyright in the future 
(especially when the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the legality of the Sonny 
Bono Copyright Term Extension Act [Eldred v. Ashcroft] is announced), we can 
offer the following either as unique background, or as a potential topic for 
a sidebar or feature.

On October 30th, Drive2Learn, Inc. (a publisher of instructional audiobooks) 
announced the Copy2Free license, which gives its customers the right to make 
up to 2 legal copies, subject to the terms of the license. To the best of its 
knowledge, it is the first publisher in America, and perhaps the world, to explicitly 
allow the copying of its copyrighted material.

The Copy2Free license is not an unlimited license; the restrictions it contains 
is part of its innovative character. 

Links to details about the Copy2Free license and background on the Copy2Free 
license are at the bottom of this email, as well as contact information and a 
press release.

For more information, feel free to contact me.

Margaret Chesser
Media Relations Coordinator

================================================================== 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact Margaret by e-mail at: margaret at drive2Learn.com.

TO GO TO HOME PAGE OF WEB SITE
http://www.drive2learn.com

TO VIEW DETAILS OF COPY2FREE LICENSE 
The best way is to go to the site using the link above, click the Info button 
at the top of the site, and then the Copy2Free link. Alternatively, you can go 
directly to the page by clicking the following link:

http://www.drive2learn.com/html/info/Copy2FreeLicense.htm

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30th, 2002                            
                                                        
CD COPYING AUTHORIZED BY U.S. AUDIOBOOK PUBLISHER IN HISTORIC DEPARTURE FROM 
PUBLISHING PRACTICE: COPY2FREE LICENSE INTRODUCED

Asheville, NC (10/30/02) --

"If you copy our CDs, you're not a criminal, you're a customer!"

So says an informational web page at Drive2Learn.com, which publishes instructional 
audiobooks on compact disc. In an age when publishers are reacting to upstart 
copying technologies like Napster and recordable discs by either putting companies 
out of business or inventing clever work-arounds, Drive2Learn is steering in 
the other direction by allowing customers to make up to 2 copies of each CD they 
purchase, provided they make the copies under the terms of the licensing agreement 
applicable to every CD. This agreement is called the Copy2Free License.

Why is Drive2Learn allowing customers to make copies? "Copying is inevitable," 
says Barry Krusch, President of Drive2Learn, Inc. "And as long as customers follow 
the terms of the Copy2Free license, we don't have any problem with it. Our customers 
listen to several audiobooks a month while they are commuting, and we see this 
as a great way for customers to keep their costs down. So it's a true win-win."

In allowing customers to make copies, Drive2Learn is bringing into the publishing 
world for the first time an idea which originated in the computer world. In the 
last two decades software developers have offered programs called "shareware" 
and "freeware," which can be copied, and the open source movement, whose best 
known program is Linux, has even allowed customers to both view and modify its 
source code.

To date, however, these innovations have been confined to the software industry. 
Traditional publishers of books, music, and videos have resisted these innovations, 
and have actively fought all attempts to circumvent their prohibitions against 
copying, including shutting down the site Napster, and even now implementing 
technologies to make their materials impossible to copy. 

Since Drive2Learn is allowing what others prohibit, how does it control illegal 
copying? With an elegant solution. Every CD has an accompanying web page filled 
with essential information. Only purchasers of the CD and the persons who have 
received copies from them have access to the web page.  By restricting access 
to essential information, Drive2Learn is able to control the amount of copying, 
allowing the benefit to its customers while preserving its ability to remain 
in business.

FIRST FIVE PROVISIONS OF COPY2FREE LICENSE

1. Copies must be exact replicas of the original, with no changes whatsoever;
2. Copies must be distributed free of charge;
3. Copies must be distributed independently - they may not be "bundled" with 
the delivery of any other material;
4. Copies must be distributed with no exchange of any good or service by the 
Purchaser and/or Intended Recipient with the recipient of the copy, and no other 
conditions for receipt;
5. Copies must be distributed in the physical medium of compact disc duplicated 
on CD-R media, and via no other physical media, such as cassette tapes or ZIP 
discs, nor via any form of network delivery, such as serving from an internet 
or intranet site in streaming or non-streaming format, or sending by email. Notwithstanding 
this provision, the Purchaser is allowed to make one copy of the CD onto an audiocassette 
exclusively for his or her own personal use . . .